Father 'wanted son to be detained' before he killed grandmother in Norwich house fire

The father of a schizophrenic student has told an inquest he was afraid of his son's behaviour in the hours before he started a fire which killed his grandmother.

Chanatorn Croghan, known as Marco, was 19 when he started the fire at 89-year-old Vera Croghan’s home on Unthank Road in Norwich in December 2020.

He was detained indefinitely in hospital after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility and arson.

The inquest heard police had been called to the property several times over concerns for Marco's health in the preceding months - including once just hours before the fire.

Richard Croghan, Marco’s father, told the inquest at Norfolk Coroners’ Court, that he was terrified by his son’s behaviour in the hours before the fire.“He appeared blank, expressionless, incapable of thought,” he said. “It was like talking to a cat.”Mr Croghan said he called 999 just before midnight after Marco began showing “pure aggression”.He told the court: “It was like if you talk to someone who wants to kill you. It made me really frightened.”

Mr Croghan said he had previously pleaded for advice from the mental health trust’s early intervention team, asking them: “What should I do if I think he’s going to kill me?”

Officers attended and Mr Croghan said he was “shell-shocked” when they said Marco was stable and that they “couldn’t do anything because no crime had been committed”. He had begged for his son to be detained.

When police left, Mr Croghan decided to leave the house because he “feared for his life”.

He said his son had never shown aggression to his grandmother, who was asleep in bed.

“It never occurred to me that he was going to set a fire,” he told the court. “I thought he was going to punch me or stab me. That’s what I expected.”

Mr Croghan only found out about the fire the following morning when alarms on his phone alerted him to a power cut at his mother’s home.

Mr Croghan said he “wasn’t taken seriously” when he had raised his concerns about Marco with mental health services.

'There are no words'

Earlier, as she reopened the inquest into Ms Croghan’s death, area coroner Yvonne Blake read a family statement describing the long-serving University of East Anglia lecturer, author and mother-of-four as a “fearless adventurer”, an “intellectual force” and a “career woman before her time”.

It said: “There are no words to explain the trauma and violence of her passing.”

The court heard that Marco, who had been brought up in Thailand, stayed at his grandmother’s home while studying at Wymondham College.

Police were called to the address on several occasions, including in May 2020 to reports that he had assaulted his father Richard Croghan and damaged a bedroom.

The inquest heard that Marco was detained by police under the Mental Health Act in June 2020 and treated as an inpatient at Southern Hill Hospital in north Norfolk.

He had been paranoid and had broken into a neighbour’s property after reporting hearing noises coming from the pipes. He had also assaulted his father.

Marco, who had been using cannabis for more than a year, reported that he “heard voices in his head telling him what to do”.Consultant psychiatrist Dr Salwan Jajawi told the inquest Marco had appeared “settled” at hospital and had responded well to anti-psychotic medication. He was discharged after three weeks.

In July, police were called after a neighbour noticed Marco was “aggravated” and had jumped over the fence.

Officers were again called to the home in December - just hours before the fire started.

Police bodycam footage of the officers’ visit to the home is due to be played to the court tomorrow.

The inquest, which is also set to hear evidence from Norfolk and Suffolk’s mental health trust, continues.